1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking stove comprising heating means, and in particular, to a cooking stove comprising an operation section that allows a user to give an instruction on an operation of heating means on a top surface of a top plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drop-in type cooking stove is conventionally known in which a cooking stove main body 101 is buried in an opening formed in a counter top of a system kitchen as shown in FIG. 8. Operation knobs 103a and 103b are provided on a glass top plate 102 to ignite and extinguish gas burners 100a and 100b and to adjust thermal power; the glass top plate 102 covers a top surface of the cooking stove main body 101 in which gas burners 100a and 100b are accommodated (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-186302 (1983)).
Such a cooking stove eliminates the need to form an opening through which an operation section is viewed, in a front surface of the counter top as in the case in which a cooking stove comprising an operation section in a front surface is installed. The cooking stove can be easily installed in the counter top. Further, the gas burners can be ignited and extinguished and thermal power adjusted using the operation knobs 103a and 103b, provided on the top plate 102 and which are thus easy to see. Consequently, a user can operate the cooking stove more easily and effectively.
In the cooking stove shown in FIG. 8, the operation knobs 103a and 103b are arranged so as to project from the top surface of the glass top plate 102. Accordingly, the operation knobs 103a and 103b may obstruct cooking. Thus, for example, a detecting section of an electrical-capacitance sensor may be provided on a back surface of the glass top plate 102 as means for operating the gas burners 100a and 100b. On the other hand, a touch switch comprising an operation section may be constructed on a front surface of the glass top plate 102. Further, the top surface of the glass top plate 102 may be made flat.
However, if the touch switch is provided as described above, it may be covered with a cooked material boiling over from a pan placed on trivets 104a and 104b or an object falling onto the glass top plate 102. Then, the touch switch may be turned on. Thus, the cooking stove is designed so that when turned on and then off again, the touch switch accepts an operation performed on itself. Then, when kept on because of the cooked material boiled over, the touch switch does not accept an operation performed on itself.
However, if the cooking stove is designed so that when turned on and then off again, the touch switch accepts an operation performed on itself, then even when the user touches the touch switch to attempt to ignite the burner, the burner is not ignited until the user takes his or her fingers off the touch switch and the touch switch is then turned off. In this case, when the user does not immediately takes his or her fingers off the touch switch, an igniting operation is not performed in spite of the ignition instruction. This may strike the user as incongruous or the user may feel anxious.
The present invention is made in view of these circumstances. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooking stove that prevents an instruction from being given using the touch switch owing to a factor different from the user's operation, while hindering the user from having an incongruous or anxious feeling when operating the touch switch.